Kaelin's Restaurant's last night tonight.

I saw a post from one of my friends on facebook and then I called the restaurant on Saturday. I do not know who I talked to but they said that it was their last night. Being in the business I checked this out before I would ever post...Ever. If it is not true, and I hope it is not, then I hope they get their story straight with the staff.

I'm going to update my blog to reflect Michelle's post, but closing for renovations doesn't necessarily mean that it will re-open as the same restaurant. Either way, it's probably going to take some effort to undo some damage from the rumor-mill (which includes me) at this point.

[Robin Garr]

I saw a post from one of my friends on facebook and then I called the restaurant on Saturday. I do not know who I talked to but they said that it was their last night. Being in the business I checked this out before I would ever post...Ever. If it is not true, and I hope it is not, then I hope they get their story straight with the staff.

You did the right thing by forum standards and policy, Will. No negative karma for you, my man.

RE: the recession, not our fiesty, shit-talking "friend"

The important thing to remember, is that even with all the bad news, and recession fear, the bulk of us have NOT lost our jobs. Sure, tips are down for me, and maybe bonuses are smaller for some, but really most of us are making exactly the same amount of money and are not in danger of losing our jobs. The thing I've heard the most on NPR is that for the most part people are actually fine, and fear of spending money is the biggest issue in this economy. It's a fear based on sensationalist news coverage, and it's making everything MUCH MUCH worse.

Go out to eat this week!

TANGENT ALERT!
With all due respect to NPR, jobs are disappearing at an astronomical rate . . . something like 500,000 a month recently. Unemployment levels are at the highest rates in recent history with several states worried about the prospect of running out of money in their unemployment funds. On a local level, the chemical industry is in a free fall with plants closing, downsizing operations and laying off more workers every week. On a personal level, I will be one of 220 people let go this year from one of the Rubbertown plants and my neighbor was let go from Humana recently. Everyone I have spoken with recently has a friend or family member out of work. Granted, the majority (in the strictest sense of the word) do still hold jobs, but the unemployment statistics do not count people who have stopped receiving benefits or those individuals who are under-employed (taking any low paying job they can acquire, but still not making enough to make ends meet). That majority is growing smaller every day. Also, real wage growth versus inflation is a negative equation for most folks these days.

I kind of got lost in this thread, but to kind of hint at what is happening....Kaelin's is indeed closed, and it is gone. While sad, it was kind of a coming of decisions that poor execution put it in a bad spot. The place will be completely re-opened, under another name by some people that have a long standing reputation in this town of quality food and service. While the cheeseburger won't be the staple anymore, rest assured they'll have one, and it will compete with many in town. PM if you want more details, but at this time the public forum is not the place.

TANGENT ALERT!
With all due respect to NPR, jobs are disappearing at an astronomical rate . . . something like 500,000 a month recently.

While this number sounds astronomical and is quite high you have to put it in perspective by remembering that even in a good economy monthly unemployment numbers are around 350,000. And obviously some of the people losing jobs find new ones quite quickly or the unemployment rate would be much higher.

On a local level, the chemical industry is in a free fall with plants closing, downsizing operations and laying off more workers every week. On a personal level, I will be one of 220 people let go this year from one of the Rubbertown plants....

Unfortunately the decline in Rubbertown employment is more a result of Mayor Abramson and the local political climate than it is the economy. The shutdown of Dupont's elastomer group with announced several years ago, R&H major cutbacks have been on and off for the last couple of years and serve all the other cutbacks in Rubbertown are also not directly the result of the economy.

Not that I'm saying everything is rosy but part of the problem with our economy today is public perception. It seems like every media outlet is only publicizing the bad and not highlighting anything good that is happening, makes one think that the media has their sights set on destroying the American economy. Unfortunately the American people are taking the information provided at face value instead of thinking for themselves. More of this recession can be blamed on the media than on the economy itself.

More of this recession can be blamed on the media than on the economy itself.

I work at R&H and we were told that the combination of higher raw material prices along with the state of the economy were the causes for most of the plant shutting down. They have actually moved up the target dates in recent months due to the economy worsening. Our products are the base for most construction materials and those materials are not selling. The Elastomer group (DuPont) WAS planning to move to Louisiana for some time and was only delayed by the last few major hurricanes. However, Oxyvinyl recently shut down and Arkema is laying off more workers every few weeks. I understand that the media can turn into a monster that feeds off bad news, but these are real effects being felt. I was replying to the other individual because Ithought that his information, while not totally wrong, was incomplete and seemed somewhat naive in outlook. I am happy that he and his customers have not been harmed by the downturn (apparently), but this can lead to an echo chamber effect where outside views are dismissed. Just trying to bring a little perspective.
Mark, send me a pm if you want to talk shop . . . I didn't mean to threadjack, but I am probably a little sensitive about this topic.

I thought this was a food forum, you all are way, WAY above my head.

[Robin Garr]

I thought this was a food forum, you all are way, WAY above my head.

It IS a food forum. But it's also a community of friends united by food as a central interest but who share a lot of other interests as well. Think of it as a cozy pub where a conversation might break out on almost any topic.

(In fact, the All About Louisville section exists for starting discussions off the food-and-drink topic. But digressions are natural, and in the nature of the forum as community (see above), I don't think most of us really mind.)

NOOOOOO, never. The birthplace of the cheeseburger. This place needs to be saved until the end of the planet.

Well, no, the cheeseburger actually was invented in Pasadena in the 1920s. I hate to burst a local legend, but I'm afraid it's true.

NOOOOOO, never. The birthplace of the cheeseburger. This place needs to be saved until the end of the planet.

Well, no, the cheeseburger actually was invented in Pasadena in the 1920s. I hate to burst a local legend, but I'm afraid it's true.

In the spirit of which came first...the chicken or the egg...What would a cheeseburger be without the hamburger, which was invented by the Menche Brothers in 1885 and is still served in their family restaurant in Akron Ohio (my hometown)...All other claims of having "invented" the hamburger should and will be ignored.

NOOOOOO, never. The birthplace of the cheeseburger. This place needs to be saved until the end of the planet.

Well, no, the cheeseburger actually was invented in Pasadena in the 1920s. I hate to burst a local legend, but I'm afraid it's true.

From what I remember from seeing something on this a few years ago, three places claim to be the home of the cheeseburger. Of the 3, Kaelins had the most reasonable claim. IIRC, the place in Pasadena opened AFTER Kaelins started serving cheeseburgers, making that one a non-starter.

The 3rd one at least had a chronological chance.

[Robin Garr]

Well, no, the cheeseburger actually was invented in Pasadena in the 1920s. I hate to burst a local legend, but I'm afraid it's true.

Rob is correct. It's not a legend. I long doubted it, but extensive searching suggests that Kaelin's claim is legit. The Pasadena outfit (long defunct) claimed to have invented it in 1937, not in the '20s.

From an old LouisvilleHotBytes Kaelin's review:

It sounds almost too good to be true. Ground beef goes back to prehistory, and food historians generally agree that the modern hamburger sandwich turned up in a lot of places around the U.S. in the 1880s. Could it really have taken another 50 years for someone to get the idea of draping a slice of cheese on top?

An extensive Web search suggests that Kaelin's version might just be true. Just three contenders offer competing claims: The now-defunct Rite Spot restaurant in Pasadena, Calif., near Los Angeles, used to boast its primacy, tracing its "hamburger with cheese sandwich" back to 1937. The Humpty Dumpty Barrel Drive-In in Denver, also gone from the scene, trumps that with evidence that it sought to trademark the name "cheeseburger" in Colorado in March 1935. But Kaelin's claim beats Humpty Dumpty by a year, substantiated by a 1934 menu that reads, "Try Kaelin's Cheese, burgers ... 15 cents ... You'll like 'em."

Well, no, the cheeseburger actually was invented in Pasadena in the 1920s. I hate to burst a local legend, but I'm afraid it's true.

Rob is correct. It's not a legend. I long doubted it, but extensive searching suggests that Kaelin's claim is legit. The Pasadena outfit (long defunct) claimed to have invented it in 1937, not in the '20s.

From an old LouisvilleHotBytes Kaelin's review:

It sounds almost too good to be true. Ground beef goes back to prehistory, and food historians generally agree that the modern hamburger sandwich turned up in a lot of places around the U.S. in the 1880s. Could it really have taken another 50 years for someone to get the idea of draping a slice of cheese on top?

An extensive Web search suggests that Kaelin's version might just be true. Just three contenders offer competing claims: The now-defunct Rite Spot restaurant in Pasadena, Calif., near Los Angeles, used to boast its primacy, tracing its "hamburger with cheese sandwich" back to 1937. The Humpty Dumpty Barrel Drive-In in Denver, also gone from the scene, trumps that with evidence that it sought to trademark the name "cheeseburger" in Colorado in March 1935. But Kaelin's claim beats Humpty Dumpty by a year, substantiated by a 1934 menu that reads, "Try Kaelin's Cheese, burgers ... 15 cents ... You'll like 'em."

From a quick web search, it looks like the Pasadena folks have magically extended their claims back another decade, to a place where the guy worked before Rite Spot.

Either way, I dont think sticking cheese on a burger qualifies entirely. You have to use the right name too. Which eliminates the Rite Spot and gets it down to the Humpty Dumpty, who trademarked the name, and Kaelin's, which used a form of the name.